Legal Violations Leveled In Hood Canal Pit-to-Pier Project

Fred Hill Materials' proposed pit-to-pier gravel operation has encountered a snag over who will write an environmental impact statement for its Hood Canal project, and the company is threatening to sue Jefferson County.

"What the county commissioners did is so far out of bounds that this will be cured by them admitting their fault, or we will seek redress from the courts," said Dan Baskins, spokesman for Fred Hill Materials.

The company has been waiting for more than a year for the county to launch an environmental review of the project, which begins by hiring a consultant to write an environmental impact statement. The original application was submitted in 2003.

The pit-to-pier project involves building a 1,000-foot pier in Hood Canal to serve barges and oceangoing ships. Also included is a four-mile-long conveyor belt to transport gravel from a mining operation near Shine.

Jefferson County planners had recommended the firm GeoEngineers, Inc., of Redmond to conduct the environmental review. A contract was ready to sign on Monday, when Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan questioned the process. The commissioners then directed planners to go back and take a closer look at another contractor, Wheeler Consulting of Bellingham.

Wheeler had been a favorite of a previous environmental planner, Greg Ballard, said County Administrator John Fishbach. Ballard even sent an e-mail to Wheeler saying the company was likely to get the contract. But Wheeler never received an official recommendation as required by county ordinance. Instead, the committee, headed by a new planner, recommended GeoEngineers.

All along, officials with Fred Hill Materials made it clear they would accept any of seven applicants for the job except for Wheeler, Baskins said. Wheeler was too small to conduct a study of such a complex project, he added.

Fishbach said the county commissioners directed planners to contact Wheeler to see if the company was still interested in the contract. Fishbach said he will consult with legal advisers before making that overture.

Under Jefferson County's procedures, the environmental consultant is hired by the county but paid by the developer, which must sign a three-way contract. The pit-to-pier analysis is estimated to cost between $300,000 and $1.5 million.

James Tracy, attorney for Fred Hill Materials, exercised a clause in the contract to "suspend" the company's support for the contract until the issue is straightened out.

"FHM is utterly amazed at Jefferson County's abject failure to follow its own law in the selection process for the EIS consultant," Tracy said in a letter to Fishbach. "Even more amazing is the admitted action of the Board of County Commissioners to influence and/or direct or interfere with the SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) process..."

Baskins said his company has been patient with Jefferson County because of its small planning staff, but the ongoing delays are costing the company money that may be recovered in court.